Susan > Recent Status Updates

Most awesome study Bible ever, loaded w/easy-to-read footnotes + photos, inset articles & maps all in color explaining everything as it happens instead of sending you all over to find the footnote references! It's hard to update my progress bc I'm not reading it like a novel, as Mike Heiser recommends. Reading Acts atm bc it comes up so much in 'Unseen Realm' & I'd never read it before; who knew Paul had a backstory!

Gave up and listened to 'Supernaatural' audiobook instead through Logos Bible software.0o Too hard to read when every time you try to lift/tilt your head, your neck goes out and you get a crippling headache that requirs opioids to relieve for a couple of hours till it comes back. I only do audiobooks and podcasts now.

In too much pain to read. Also trying to read the Bible passages/books it assumes readers are already familiar with before proceeding and listening to his 'Naked Bible Podcast' and YouTube videos when pain prevents me from reading. This is a very difficult book to read. Should have bought the 'Supernatural' version For Dummies.

It's IMPOSSIBLE to update progress on a study Bible full of essays, notes, appendices, commentary, introductions, et al. in addition to 66 individual books plus the Apocrypha. You'd have to be a speed reader to read this entire volume (which the hard cover has fallen off of due to the weight & poor binding) in order from beginning to end. I'm NOT reading each book/section in order, so I give up on progress updates.

Really fascinating, makes me want to learn Hebrew. I'm finding that it makes more sense if you've already read the passages Dr. Heiser is discussing for context, and now I need to read the somewhat long (to me with my ADHD) book of Acts to follow it. Also, my debilitating headaches from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome/Cranial Instability/degenerative disk disease is getting worse, so I can only read ~1 paragraph/day.

Heiser's thesis was hard for me to comprehend "in the beginning," but after I put my lingering questions & the book aside for a while, his thesis re: the Fall/expulsion of Adam & Eve AND the "serpent," who's more than a "talking snake," from the Garden of Eden makes more sense. Heiser doesn't TELL you, but you REALLY need to keep a Bible handy & READ all the cited-but-not quoted passages for his thesis to make sense.

Finished book of Mark (shortest/1st Gospel to be written, having already read Matthew & John), reading ALL footnotes, realizing HOW MUCH Jesus ("The Word") quoted the Old Testament. I've read all the introductory materials (Roman-#'d pgs) & ALL footnotes so far in Genesis. After my ~10th attempt to start "In the beginning," I'm all the way up to Jacob & Esau. Switching to "I Dare You Not to Bore Me With The Bible."

Still plugging away at this. It's VERY dense with facts & figures/dates & names I keep forgetting from one reading session to another.

So far I'm not seeing it as a reason not to be a Christian but more a reason not to take every word of the Bible literally and an explanation as to why there are so many English translations & interpretations of the Bible. Understanding the history, I can decide what I do believe.

Very annoying aspect of Goodreads: demands % of progress instead of page #, so above % is 37/559 rounded off. :P

Been watching the series on TNT, downloaded sample of the book for comparison, liking it way more than the TV series, esp. the casting. Found out Teddy Roosevelt was MAJORLY miscast cuz Sean Astin backed out last min. Still no Sara. What are the chances I'll be caught up before the finale tonight? ;)

So far, it's an interesting & logical history of how the gospels & letters we now call the New Testament were written, dictated, copied, read & distributed among early Christians, many of whom were illiterate. The "originals" have been lost & corrupted w/copying due to the lack of printing presses & numerous kinds of human errors/changes long well known to Bible scholars/translators all making their best guesses.

Since Linda put out a 2nd edition of the book, I repurchased it in Nook format (far more convenient than trying not to damage the lovely cover of the paperback) but found she changed it significantly from the 1st version I had started, leaving out a lot of description and explanation I thought I'd read--but forgotten from the 1st time. Putting it on hold for now, awaiting the 3rd edition w/more introductory detail.

Having been raised Presbyterian then spending yrs in a non-denominational, "born-again" church, only beginning to doubt when that Christianity hypocritically became bound up in worldly politics. I began to research other faiths, none of which really "grabbed" me. Feeling a need for "God," I'm back to Christianity, exploring my beliefs w/foremost Bible scholar/historian to determine how much of I can still embrace.

Abandoned. See review.

Putting this back on hold since I'd like to read all Lewis's books on Christianity in the order in which he wrote them, following the progress of his faith as he faltered after the death of his wife & then regained it. I'd also like to have them all in (Nook) eBook format, but, OMG, $12.49 just for this one volume??? My paperback copy had a retail price of $1.95! I wish they all came in ONE chronological collection.

Typical Life book: hard-cover w/dust jacket, glossy paper w/maps, artwork & photos, + NO typographical errors so fa (a refreshing rarity these days!). Provides a clear, immersive study of Jesus's life & milieu comparing & aligning canonical Gospels (KJV), Dead Sea Scrolls, historical records & geography from w/Christian, Jewish & scholarly POVs, reverently augmenting the Gospels to help readers reach own conclusions.

This is one of those books that was just TOO good, to the point where I didn't want it to end. I forgot where I left off, but it was pretty close to the end. Unfortunately, I've since seen the movie starring Alan Rickman and don't think I *want* to read the ending!

Hmm, OK, that extra four pages on "arrogance" was pretty good after all. I'm sort of the opposite of arrogant (I don't demand applause or my own parking space, etc.), but there were some good theological points made, esp. as to why everything has to be done for God's glory. I've always wondered: He created this big game board and all the rules. "Does God have an ego problem? No, but we do." I WANT to be God's sheep.

I'm up to the chapter on "for his name's sake," entitled "Get Over Yourself." I've got the point about arrogance, and there are still four more pages to go. Seems like he's projecting? The cookie-exchange analogy in the previous chapter didn't help explain "He leads me in the paths of righteousness," but made me glad I don't go to this guy's church! Started out good but too much on some phrases, not enough on others.

I'm up to the chapter on "for his name's sake," entitled "Get Over Yourself." I've got the point about arrogance, & there are still 4 more pgs to go. Seems like he's projecting? The cookie-exchange analogy in the previous chapter didn't help explain "He leads me in the paths of righteousness," but made me glad I don't go to this guy's church! Started out good but too much on some passages, not enough on others.

Just picked this up the other week among the B&N bargain books feeling like I was guided to it by my guardian angel while I go through a period of EXTREME stress right now. I've always loved the 23rd Psalm but never imagined there could be 220 pages worth of analysis of that one psalm to help you let go of your stress and burdens. I'm looking forward to memorizing and gaining more insight and comfort from it!

I'm on page 205 of 625 in the Nook version; don't know why they want you to put down the percentage for e-books but page number for print books! My Nook doesn't tell me what "percentage" I've read--or I don't know how to find it. Fortunately, the math here was pretty easy to do! ;)

Been reading this off and on for at least 10 years, falling back on this when I'm not engaged in something shinier and newer. ;) Bought the Nook version after starting with the paperback edition pictured, so I'm on page 310 out of 547; not sure what that equates to in the original paperback offhand, but I selected that edition cuz that's the cover I'm used to looking at.

Just picked this up the other week among the B&N bargain books feeling like I was guided to it by my guardian angel while I go through a period of EXTREME stress right now. I've always loved the 23rd Psalm but never imagined there could be 220 pages worth of analysis of that one psalm to help you let go of your stress and burdens. I'm looking forward to memorizing and gaining more insight and comfort from it!

I'd gotten all the way thru Ch 5 when a fellow "language-geek" friend suggested we study together, along w/some friends of his who insisted we review Ch 1 every wk before moving ahead. After 2 yrs of nobody studying outside of class, we could never get past Ch 2 & I was forgetting what I'd already learned on my own, so I quit. This immersive style doesn't work 4 me so I started adding traditional supplemental mat'ls.

I'd gotten all the way thru Ch 5 when a fellow "language-geek" friend suggested we study together, along w/some friends of his who insisted we review Ch 1 every wk before moving ahead. After 2 yrs of nobody studying outside of class, I ended up teaching & had only got back to Ch 2, having forgotten what I'd learned on my own! This immersive style doesn't work 4 me, so I started adding traditional supplemental mat'ls.

I just bought this from the bargain-books section at B&N and have skimmed the illustrations, photos & maps, then started reading from the beginning, but many life stressors have gotten in the way of my actually reading this lavishly illustrated coffee-table-sized book connecting the historical Jesus with the biblical Jesus. In the meantime, I've been watching CNN's "Finding Jesus" series on TV.

I just bought this from the bargain-books section at B&N and have skimmed the images, then started reading from the beginning, but many life stressors have gotten in the way of my actually reading this lavishly illustrated connecting the historical Jesus with the biblical Jesus. In the meantime, I've been watching CNN's "Finding Jesus" series on TV.

I've repeatedly started this book since I bought it in the 1980s, but I can't seem to focus on this small-print paperback & Lewis's wonderful, witty, but academic prose style, especially because I want to read all his books on Christianity in order and can't afford to buy them all at once; I'd rather have the entire in sequence collection on my Nook but can't afford them all.I absolutely loved his "The Four Loves"!